In a little over 30 years, 500 million people escaped poverty in China, and the country became the world’s second-largest economy and leading producer and exporter of manufactured goods.In less than 20... Show More + years, in 2030, this record of enormous advances is expected to change pace, when the annual economic growth rate is expected to decline from the current 30-year average of 10% to between 3.5% and 6.9% --all as a result of an aging population and an economic model that is more ‘qualitative’ than expansive.Given that China is a key trade partner of Brazil and that relations between the two countries will gain momentum at the BRICS Summit this week, the question is: Is this deceleration harmful for the South American giant, and consequently, for its partners in the region? Not necessarily, according to five experts who met this week in Brasilia for the presentation of the World Bank report: “Implications of a changing China for Brazil: a new window of opportunity?”Brazil can take adv Show Less -

The slowdown in the first quarter reflected a combination of dissipating effects of earlier measures to support growth, a weak external environment, and tighter credit, especially for real estate. However,... Show More + economic activity, including industrial production, has shown signs of a pick-up in recent weeks. The recent acceleration, which is likely to continue into the next two quarters, reflects robust consumption, a recovery of external demand, and new growth supporting measures, including infrastructure investments and tax incentives for small and medium-sized enterprises.The China Economic Update, a regular assessment of China’s economy, identifies several risks to this gradual adjustment. First, a disorderly deleveraging of local government debt could trigger a sharp slowdown in investment growth. Second, an abrupt change in the cost of, or access to, capital for such sectors as real estate could significantly reduce economic activity. Finally, the recovery in exports may not materializ Show Less -

WASHINGTON, October 7, 2013–Economic growth in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) remains strong with growth forecasted to be 4.9% in 2013. Almost a third of countries in the region are growing at 6% and more, and... Show More + African countries are now routinely among the fastest-growing countries in the world, according to the World Bank’s new Africa’s Pulse, a twice-yearly analysis of the issues shaping Africa’s economic prospects.Buoyed by rising private investment in the region and remittances now worth US$33 billion a year supporting household incomes GDP growth in Africa will continue to rise and pick up to 5.3% in 2014 and 5.5% in 2015. Strong government investments and higher production in the mineral resources, agriculture and service sectors are supporting the bulk of the economic growth. As Africa’s growth rates continue to surge with the region increasingly a magnet for investment and tourism, Africa’s Pulse notes that poverty and inequality remain “unacceptably high and the pace of reduction una Show Less -

Thank you Minister Basri.I would like to thank Indonesia for chairing the 20th APEC Finance Ministerial Meeting and to express my appreciation for your warm welcome, Minister Basri, and the stimulating... Show More + discussion we had at our retreat.What I take away from the retreat is a shared understanding that the global economy appears to be moving into a new phase, in which output in advanced economies is firming, albeit probably not as strongly as we would have liked. Developing country growth appears to be slowing, including in the Asia-Pacific region.Our retreat, of course, came in the wake of the decision by the US Federal Reserve to defer its tapering of quantitative easing. As we noted, it is a positive move in the short-term for both developing and high-income economies.We know governments have now been given some breathing space. Clearly the risks and uncertainty about eventual tapering remain. But this is the time for policy makers to seize the moment and address domestic vul Show Less -

JOHN DONNELLY: Hi! Good afternoon. My name is John Donnelly. I am the Communications Advisor to Dr. Jim Yong Kim, the President of the World Bank Group. This is an on the record press briefing. Dr. Kim... Show More + will lead with a statement and then take questions from you for about half an hour. Thank you.DR. KIM: Thank you all for coming. Let me begin by thanking the Chinese government and the Chinese people for the warm welcome they have given me. As many of you know, at the World Bank Group we are passionate about ending poverty and building shared prosperity – so it’s good to be back in China, where we share a strong commitment to these goals.For the World Bank Group this trip marked a deepening of our relationship with the Government of China on issues ranging from urbanization to climate change to investment in Africa. I had very productive meetings with Premier Li Keqiang, Finance Minister Lou Jiwei and several other senior officials in the Government. The Chinese Government ha Show Less -

WASHINGTON, June 12, 2013 – Risks from advanced economies have eased and growth is firming, despite ongoing contraction in the Euro Area. However, the pick-up in developing countries will be modest because... Show More + of capacity constraints in several middle income countries, says the World Bank in the newly-released Global Economic Prospects (GEP) report.Global GDP is expected to expand about 2.2 percent this year and strengthen to 3.0 percent and 3.3 percent in 2014 and 2015[1]. Developing-country GDP is now projected to be around 5.1 percent in 2013, strengthening to 5.6 percent and 5.7 percent in 2014 and 2015, respectively. Growth in Brazil, India, Russia, South Africa and Turkey has been held back by supply bottlenecks. While external risks have eased, growth in these countries is unlikely to reach pre-crisis rates unless supply-side reforms are completed. In China also, growth has slowed as authorities seek to rebalance the economy. Looking at broader region-wide trends, the East Asi Show Less -

WASHINGTON, February 28, 2013 - Today the World Bank Board of Directors approved a loan of US$50 million to the People’s Republic of China to improve the capacity of the main navigation channel and enhance... Show More + the operational management capacity of the Meizhou Bay Harbor. Fast growth of overseas trade has led to substantial increase in the total tonnage handled by China’s seaports in the last two decades. China now has nine of the twenty busiest seaports in the world. Located in southeast Fujian Province, Meizhou Bay is already a substantial bulk port handling nearly 40 million tons of freight (2010) including crude oil, building materials, coal and oil products as well as iron ore, grain, and timber at 46 berths spread over four port areas. The forecast expects traffic in Meizhou Bay to increase to about 177 million tons by 2020, and 250 million tons by 2030. To meet this increase in traffic, the new Fujian Meizhou Bay Navigation Improvement Project will upgrade the main navig Show Less -

But many countries like Chile, China, India, Morocco, South Africa, and the U.S. continued to improveWASHINGTON, May 15, 2012—Progress in trade logistics performance slowed down over the last two years... Show More + amid the global recession, but countries that pursued aggressive reforms continued to improve their performance, according to the World Bank’s latest survey on trade logistics. Singapore is the top performer among the 155 economies included in the Logistics Performance Indicators (LPI), which are part of the Connecting to Compete 2012: Trade Logistics in the Global Economy report. Countries like Chile, China, India, Morocco, South Africa, Turkey, and the U.S. all improved their previous performance, according to the study, which is based on a comprehensive world survey of international freight forwarders and express carriers. “Trade logistics is key to economic competitiveness, growth, and poverty reduction,” said Otaviano Canuto, World Bank Vice President for Poverty Reduction Show Less -

MR. MILLS: Well, thank you very much for joining us for this closing press conference. Our participants will each make an opening statement and then we'll take... Show More + your questions. If I can ask everyone to please turn off your mobile devices or put them to vibrate, we would appreciate it. Chairman Belka. MR. BELKA: Thank you. As we are late, I am not going to be very descriptive about the meeting of the Development Committee. You know the agenda. The discussion was very rich, centering around the social safety nets, the private sector involvement in growth initiatives, as well we discussed modernization of the World Bank. However, one thing that is obvious, it took so long because all the delegates took the opportunity of this Development Committee meeting to express gratitude and adm Show Less -

MR. MILLS: Good morning, everyone. Thank you for joining us for our World Bank Group press conference for the 2012 Spring Meetings. Joining me this morning is the President of the World Bank... Show More + Group, Robert Zoellick, who will have an opening statement and then take some of your questions. If I could please ask everyone when they ask a question to identify themselves and your organization; and once again, I am sure you have been asked, but if we could have our mobile devices switched off or to "vibrate." So, President Zoellick. MR. ZOELLICK: Thank you, Rich. Welcome, and thanks to all of you for coming. This marks my last Spring Meetings as the President of the World Bank Group, so I would like to begin with a few words of thanks to the Ministers who have supported us and worked with us; to our Executive Board, who have labored hard to help our Management team to modernize the important multilateral institution; to the excellent Senior Manageme Show Less -

Washington, April 16, 2012 — World Bank Group President Robert B. Zoellick today congratulated Dr. Jim Yong Kim for being chosen to become the 12th president of the development institution and offered... Show More + his support in ensuring a successful handover for July 1. “I am pleased to work with Jim Yong Kim during the transition. He is an impressive and accomplished individual. Jim has seen poverty and vulnerability first-hand, through his impressive work in developing countries. His innovations in health-care have helped to save numerous lives. As President at Dartmouth College, Jim has had to take tough managerial and financial decisions while running a large, multidisciplinary organization. His rigorous, science-based drive for results will be invaluable for the World Bank Group as it modernizes to better serve client countries in overcoming poverty.” Show Less -

WASHINGTON, April 16, 2012 - Dr. Jim Yong Kim today released a statement in response to his selection by the World Bank's Executive Directors as 12th President of the World Bank: “I am honored to... Show More + accept the Executive Directors’ decision to select me as the next President of the World Bank Group. I am delighted to succeed Robert Zoellick, who has served with excellence and distinction during the last five years, and I am grateful to the Bank’s member countries for the broad support I have received. I have spoken with Minister Okonjo-Iweala and Professor Ocampo. They have both made important contributions to economic development, and I look forward to drawing on their expertise in the years to come. It is befitting that I conclude my global listening tour in Peru. It was here in the shantytowns of Lima that I learned how injustice and indignity may conspire to destroy the lives and hopes of the poor. It was here that I saw how communities struggle to prosper bec Show Less -

WASHINGTON, April 16, 2012 - The Executive Directors met today to select a new President of the World Bank Group. The Board expressed its deep gratitude for Mr. Robert B. Zoellick’s outstanding leadership... Show More + and his dedication to reducing poverty in its member countries, the core mandate of the World Bank Group. The Executive Directors followed the new selection process agreed in 2011 which, for the first time in the Bank’s history, yielded multiple nominees. This process included an open nomination where any national of the Bank’s membership could be proposed by any Executive Director or Governor, publication of the names of the candidates, interviews of the candidates by the Executive Directors, and final selection of the President. The Executive Directors selected Dr. Jim Yong Kim as President for a five-year term beginning on July 1, 2012. The President is Chair of the Boards of Directors of the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) and the Internation Show Less -

Policy makers under pressure can get preoccupied with the fixation of the moment. For the eurozone, that idée fixe has been “the firewall”. How big is big enough? Who contributes and how?Now that the eurozone... Show More + finance ministers have exhausted themselves with a multilayered package of hundreds of billions of euros, the debate will go global at this week’s spring meetings of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank. The next preoccupation will be how many more hundreds of billions of euros should be pledged to the IMF. It will be Firewall II: the Sequel.I beg to differ. Not with firewalls exactly, but with the preoccupation.The survival of the eurozone now depends on Italy and Spain. They are the countries that are too big to fail – or to rescue. Extraordinary action by the European Central Bank has lowered the interest rates that Italy and Spain pay on their debt, but not solved their problems.In one sense, the much-badgered Germans are right. The fates of Italy and Spain depen Show Less -

It is a great honor for me to speak today as we celebrate the 10th anniversary of China’s accession to the World Trade Organization.China’s economic performance since the beginning of its reforms and gradual... Show More + opening up in 1979 has been miraculous. From 1979 to 2010, China maintained an average annual GDP growth rate of 9.9 percent. China’s achievements alone have ensured that the world’s Millennium Development Goal on poverty reduction will be met. Moreover, when the global financial crisis hit in 2008, China became the major force driving the global recovery by implementing a timely and effective fiscal stimulus package. In acceding to the WTO, China made a firm commitment to further reform and open up its economy. The outcome of these efforts has been extraordinary: China’s annual trade growth averaged 13.9 percent between 1979 and 2001, the time of the WTO accession, and since then has accelerated to 21.6 percent. And its trade integration ratio increased to more than 50 percen Show Less -

Small-scale Doha deal now planned will do too little for global growthWashington, July 17. 2011—World Bank Group President Robert B. Zoellick urged the world’s trading nations to “think big” and “Double... Show More + Down on Doha” to ensure the round of trade talks provides a significant boost to today’s troubled global economy. In a speech to be delivered in Geneva, Switzerland, to the World Trade Organization (WTO) on July 18, Zoellick said the fate of the Doha Round that he helped launch in 2001 was “deeply disappointing” and the consequence could be a missed opportunity for a global growth strategy when the world sorely needed one. “I won’t sugarcoat it. Negotiators from key countries – developed and developing – let themselves fold into defensive crouches. Tactical ploys overwhelmed strategic vision and leadership,” Zoellick said in his prepared remarks.“Some want to Declare Doha Dead. Instead, I urge the WTO members to get bolder: Double-Down on Doha. And do so Show Less -

WASHINGTON, DC, June 16, 2011 -- What if every African nation suddenly learned of a new, untapped benefactor – a frugal individual with keen entrepreneurial sensibilities, who has managed to accumulate... Show More + billions of U.S. dollars' worth in savings, and has strong cultural ties to the ancestral homeland?It would seem like a perfect opportunity to find new funding for development projects – but what if no one knew exactly where that mysterious person lived, or where the money is kept, or what concerns the donor might have about how the funding would be used?This is the situation faced by governments of developing nations in Africa and elsewhere that hope to solicit fiscal relief from their own emigrant communities – large numbers of people living and working in what are usually higher-income countries. Most diaspora members' incomes are modest by the standards of rich nations, and their savings might seem meager in the world of development funding, but – as recounted in Diaspora for Develop Show Less -

WASHINGTON, June 1, 2011 - The World Bank today released a new report covering global corruption trends in the roads sector and including recommendations based on the experience of developed and developing... Show More + countries.The report, Curbing Fraud, Corruption and Collusion in the Roads Sector, explores how the World Bank and developing nations can reduce losses from collusion in procurement and fraud and corruption in contract execution, drawing on what the Bank’s investigative office, the Integrity Vice Presidency (INT), has learned from its investigations of Bank-funded roads projects; borrowing country government’s investigations and reports; and the experience of developed countries. “Corruption in the roads sector is a problem for both developed and developing countries, yet the economic and social loss is more profound for poor communities in developing countries,“ said Robert B. Zoellick, President of the World Bank Group. “Well-planned, properly-maintained, and safe roads Show Less -

BEIJING, April 28, 2011 – China’s economic outlook remains broadly favorable with real GDP growth projected at 9.3 percent in 2011 and 8.7 percent in 2012, but risks on inflation and the property market... Show More + call for full normalization of the macroeconomic stance to keep growth on track, according to the World Bank’s latest China Quarterly Update released today.“Headwind from a normalized macroeconomic stance, inflation, and somewhat slower global growth is likely to be partly offset by solid corporate investment and a still robust labor market,” says Ardo Hansson, Lead Economist for China. “In all, with a broadly neutral contribution of net trade, we now project China’s real GDP growth at 9.3 percent in 2011 and 8.7 percent in 2012.”The Update, a regular assessment of China’s economy, finds that both fiscal and monetary policy contributed to the tightening of macroeconomic policy after the massive stimulus during the global financial crisis. Consumption growth slowed in early 2011. But ove Show Less -

OVERVIEWChina’s economic growth has remained resilient as the macro stance moved towards normalization.The economic outlook remains broadly favorable.A fully normalized macro policy stance is key to address... Show More + the macro risks with respect to inflation and the housing market.While the macro and financial risks on the property market require macroeconomic measures and reforms, social concerns require a different policy response.The 12th Five-Year Plan (5YP) can provide direction for reform.RECENT ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENTS Economic growth remained resilient as the macro stance moved towards normalization.Domestic demand held up well in early 2011, supported by investment, even as consumption slowed.Exports slowed down in late 2010 but continued to expand in early 2011.Reflecting the still robust overall domestic demand, imports held up well early this year, especially those of manufactured goods.Falling external terms of trade combined with the volume developments to lower the trade surplus.Infl Show Less -